"You know what that smell is ? That's the smell of Poly-carb being cut in the morning. God I love the smell of Poly-carb in the morning, reminds me of Victory....."
You will wear out your finger trying to score polycarb with an exacto, but it can be done. I've always found the big secret to cutting any-kid of plastic <acrylic, poly carb, abs,
etc.> Is a slower moving, higher
TPI blade. heat
build up from a bandsaw or
jig saw often results in a gummy mess. That being said, with the tools you have available try this: Un-do the blade in you skill saw, take it out and flip it backwards, so the teeth are pointing the wrong way. Re-tighten the blade. If at all possible set the entire piece of poly-carb on top of a sacrificial surface < top of a work table works fine if the TD isn't looking.> Now set the depth of the cut to the
thickness of the sheet good if your poly-carb is.10" then set the blade to .12" or so, just enough to get through. Now put on
safety glasses, ear plugs and if you are sensitive to icky smells, a respirator. Follow you
line and slice right through.
Important things to remember:
Leave the plastic/paper sheeting on the
Lexan until after it's cut.
Put
masking tape or
board tape on the
foot of your skillsaw to keep it from scratching the surface of the plastic, if you've already removed the sheeting, or if you need to re-cut it after the sheeting has been removed.
Switch the blade back around before you let anybody else use the skillsaw.
Wear long sleeves and a doo-rag if possible, plastic crumbs get everywhere and they're sharp!
**** Goggles,
safety glasses or a
face shield are imperative when cutting any plastic sheet good. The little pieces of plastic that are thrown off tend to be Hot, sharp and tiny. They get everywhere, they can slice your arms up if you're not wearing long sleeves. I've cut plastic sheet
goods on the tablesaw before and even with
safety glasses on walked out of the shop with blood on my
face 'cause I wasn't wearing a
shield and little pieces of plastic had cut and embedded themselves into my
face. < Yes
Mark, That's why I look this way now...
>